Seeing as the ordered items had already arrived, Kurt was keen to make sure that came around sooner rather than later and convinced her to let him pick her up Monday evening.
That was the day the fiendish Darlene, who had kept her secret yearnings within for so long, was about to step forth and reveal herself. The Darlene he had seen a hint of when first coming across that nipple tassel; the secret that had stirred his own desires for her. The Darlene who was his to discover alone, who every hot-blooded male who had ever seen her simply had no clue existed.
She consented to being wined and dined that time, at his house in Pacific City. There would be time for epic burlesque voyages out on Arial, as soon as they could negotiate some time off together, but he couldn’t wait until then to see Darlene coming out of her shell. Waiting might only bring up complications or, if that initial excitement should fade somehow, cause her to lose her nerve.
After sampling his best attempt at cooking Italian and with the support of a glass of wine, a nervous looking Darlene took hold of the package he had signed for one week ago and disappeared upstairs. Before she did, Kurt had told her he wanted to make love to her in a manner that suited the sheer naughtiness of burlesque attire and she had agreed. Though unsure exactly what he had in mind, she gave him consent and all that was left was to wait for her to re-enter the living room.
What had she gone for? he wondered. Did it rival that see-through shawl the Taiwanese lady had been wearing? If so, he pictured himself launching onto her as if from a diving board. As it turned out, she had been far less obvious and more imaginative than that. Perhaps because it was her first time, understandably so, she had opted for the full gear and seeing her clad in such a way caused him to sink to his knees instead in sheer admiration.
Instead of a see-through shawl that looked like the slightest gust of breeze might blow it away, Darlene had opted for a full corset. Low at the bosom, which it hung so tightly around that both breasts seemed at risk of bursting out at any moment, the tightly-drawn pink number came in a shade of pink not so dissimilar to the color of her skin. A peeping Tom would have had to look twice to be certain that she was not naked. The corset followed the curve of her hips so that it ended just above the panties, though attached were some white and pink flower arrangements that caused him to wonder whether the panties were indeed beneath. Black high-heeled boots accompanied the corset, as well as a pink-rose headband that contrasted with the erotic clothing by offering an unbelievably innocent-looking face. A photograph from the neck up would have failed to reveal her true nature as a vixen, but Kurt was in her presence and knocked sideways by the transformation.
If it was not enough that there was a vision of such lust before him, Kurt was also to learn that being dressed in a way she had always wanted to did something dynamic to Darlene’s character. It was as if wearing the corset served to put her in character and she was not the shy creature he had seduced on the yacht anymore, but instead a dominatrix.
‘Are you looking my way, sweetie?’ she asked, with her hands on her hips and only lacking a whip to turn him into a slave.
‘You’ll have to forgive me if I drool at all,’ was his reply, which she returned with a wide and knowing grin.
The first time they made love had been all soft and gentle, but they were then to prove there was many layers to their sexual desire.
Darlene’s secret love for the erotic led them onto an isle of lust and raunch, of which Kurt had heard rumor but never ventured. He had never read the Karma Sutra either but imagined they must have ticked off a fair few positions that evening. (If not created a few of their own that would have been difficult to describe to an artist, not without a modern knowledge of some of the mod cons included in his living room.) On the carpet, the sofa, against the wall and climbing up the stairs; they prowled about like cats on heat making love multiple times as a subplot to his main task of trying to figure out how to get her out of that corset.
Kurt was helping her to find the real Darlene and, though he was taking at least as much pleasure along the way, for some reason it felt good to be a part of her awakening, regardless of the sex.
The two of them headed back to work with a glow on their faces, humming sweet songs as they went about their daily chores and looking forward to when they would next be able to continue the adventure.
Much to Kurt’s surprise, however, he was going to see her a lot sooner than expected. They had scheduled another secret liaison for the weekend, but little did he know that more than one strange twist of events was underway.
When the first of them came, it was completely unexpected and Kurt did not even have any of his seafaring philosophies in place to ride the storm. Hearings news of illness in the family is a sure-fire way of grounding anyone and that was exactly what happened on Wednesday morning.
Of all people, it was his father. Earl Wyden had always been a vision of good health and hardly ever even visited the doctor, but on that morning, he was rushed to hospital suffering a suspected stroke.
It was a scare that was accompanied by a sigh of relief, because the stroke was very mild an
d the doctors were happy to discharge him a few hours later. They would continue to monitor his heath and suggest some diet changes for a time but the family was assured there was no reason it should reoccur and that there was no lasting damage because they had reacted quickly.
On hearing the news, Kurt had insisted on driving them home from the hospital that afternoon and stayed at his parents’ house until the evening. He hoped that his presence might improve his mother’s spirits, who was clearly nursing a number of anxieties about Earl’s long-term health, while he was also keen to see how his father looked himself.
At 6pm he was just about to help his mother start cooking dinner when the doorbell rang and, to his complete surprise, Brenda returned to the living room followed by none other than Darlene.
Some extreme thinking flashed through his mind as to why she might be there. Had she been broken by the stress of keeping their relationship from their parents and come to announce they were going out with each other?
As it turned out, there was no need to brace himself for drama because it was all just a coincidence. Kurt did not know, but there were important company papers that needed to be signed that day and his father had been scheduled to head into Portland for an accounts meeting. Obviously, because the health scare had occurred, he could not make the discussion, but he had spoken to Clive over the phone from the hospital and suggested that someone bring the papers around for him to sign in the evening. Because Clive could not come himself, he had thought it a good idea to send the family a friendly face by asking Darlene.
Earl and Brenda were delighted to see an old family friend right then, greeting her warmly and asking her all about how her first days in the job had gone. All the while they had no idea there was something going on, though Kurt was aware he was saying very little, being afraid that the chemistry between them might be obvious when they spoke.
Darlene stayed for dinner and so the evening proved another warm family gathering. It was only when she got up to leave that Kurt was able to get a moment alone with her, as his father had some boxes of paperwork he had intended to take to Portland earlier that day.
‘Don’t even think of it, dad,’ he ordered, when Earl seemed about to get up and do the heavy shifting. ‘I’ll take them to the car for Darlene; you do as mom says and put your feet up.’
For once his father had no choice but to listen and Kurt headed outside with Darlene.
‘You gave me a surprise there, babe,’ he told her.
‘I know! I volunteered at the last minute and only considered that you might…’
But she cut her sentence short and Kurt turned to find her staring down the road at something.
‘Is something up?’ he asked.